Automatic musical instrument.



C. L. DAVIS. AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23, I907.

- Patented Jan. 25,, 1916.

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AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23. 1907.

atented Jan. 25, 1916.

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GHARLES L. DAVIS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOEL, BY MESIIE ASSIGNMENTS, TO A. MILLER BELFIELD AND JOHN P. T/IENllTZER, TRUSTEES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan; 25, 1916.

Application filed February 23, 1807. Serial No. 358,823

tion.

My invention relates to mechanical musical mstrurnents and espec ally to automatic lIlStlllIlLIlliS commonly known as inside piano players or player pianos. I Prominent objects of the invention are,

to provide a simple, practical, novel and advantageous metal action therefor; to simpli'fy the same as much as possible; to secure quick and effective, operationof the piano keys; and to accomplish the foregoing and other desirable objects in a simple and expeditious manner.

is an end elevation of a player piano embodying my invention, with a portion of the case cut away for convenience of illustration; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same with the larger part of the front of the case removed; Fig. 3 is a cross section of a portion of the piano, showing the piano key and action, the player action, and part of the piano ease; Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively a plan view and cross section of a portion of one section of the metal action; Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively a front elevation and a cross section of the portion of the mechanism for controlling the playing;-and Fig. 8 is a view in side elevation of the pedal and bellows mechanism.

Referring to the drawings, and especially to Fig. 1, l have shown a player piano having a piano case 1 containing a piano action 2 operated by keys 3. The pneumatic action for operating the piano action 2 is arranged above the keys 3 and consists o1 a metal action Whose general construction is set forth and claimed in application of mine Serial No. 271,408, filed July 27, 1905. As utilized in this player piano, the action coir sists of three metal trays or, casings t, 4: (Figs. 2, 3, l and 5) each of which is supported" at its ends by blocks 5, o secured to G i In the accompanying drawings, Figure l -hangers 6, 6 which are suspended from a cross supporting board 7 which ext'ends across the piano and. is secured at its ends to the ends of the case by blocks 8 (Fig. 2). Thus the trays or casings l, 4: extend substantially across the width of the piano. These casings or trays are provided. with primary and secondary valve mechanisms shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 embodying the generalprinciples of construction and operation shown in my said other application.

The present construction embodies certain structural improvements over the arrangements shown in my said other application, and these, together with other matters-I desire to claim in my present application.

The trays or casings referred to are conveniently constructed of two substantially flat metal strips 9, 10 (Fig. 5), secured together as by soldering so as to form pneumatic passages or windways which are connected with the bellows or other wind-inducing apparatus, by a wind pipe 11 (Fig. l). lilach tray or casing is provided with a series of primary valve mechanisms 12, ar-

ranged along one side of the tray or casing, and also with a series of secondary valve mechanisms 13 arranged along the other side thereof. The primary valve mechanisms comprise metal thimbles 14 extended up through apertures in the upper metal strip or sheet forming the top of the casing and having threaded connection therewith, and metal caps 15 threaded upon the thimble 14.

A valve stem 16 is provided with valves 17 and 18, the latter being adjustable by threaded connection with said stem and also with an end piece 19. The thimble 1e is provided with an aperture 20 forming an air port controlled by the adjustable valve 18, and the thimble 14 with an aperture 21 forinin a vacuum port controlled by the valve fif The bottom of the tray or casing 4 is provided with an annular downwardly projecting rim 22 forming an openingbelow the primary valve for the pouch 23 there for. This pouch is held in position by a washer 2a which is secured in place by a pouch disk 25 having a lip 26 which extends up putside of the rim 2% and which is held in position by a ring 27 arranged to slide on pins 28 and held firmly in position thereon by nuts 29, 29. The pouch 23 is provided with a pad 30 below the head 19 on the valvestem 1G. The secondary valve mechanism comprises a projection 31 formed up on the top of the tray or casing 1 and having ports 32, controlled by the secondary valve. A cylindrical piece 33 is mounted upon the projection 31 and has its lower end screw-threaded thereon. A cap 34 has a threaded connection with the upper end of the cylinder 33 and is sepa rated therefrom by a washer 35. The cap 34 has an aperture 36 forming an air port and a bridge 37 permanently secured to said cap as by soldering. The secondary valve 38 is mounted within the housing formed by the cylinder 33 and cap 34 and has its lower end provided with a stem 39 carrying a head 40, and its upper en d provided with a stem 41 carrying a head s2 desirably made of wood, and having a threaded connection with the stem 41. The bridge 37 forms a guide for the head A metallic tube 43 is secured to the cylindrical casing 33 as by soldering. Below the secondary valve is a pouch 4% held by a pouch disk 25 of the same construction, and secured in position by the same devices asthe pouch disk described in connection with the primary valve mechanism.

A' tube 46 is connected with the cap 15 of the primary 'alve, by a flexible rubber connection 47, and extends to the secondary pouch disk T acker-board tubes 43, -18 run to the pouch disks 25, 25 of the primary valve mechanisms.

The operation of this valve mechanism is in accordance with the usual double pneumatic mechanism. the primary valve 17, 18 being lifted by the pouch 23 when the latter is elevated by the admission of air into a tracker board tube 5 .3, and the primary valve in turn closing the vacuum port 21 and opening the air port 20 so as to permit air to pass through the connecting tube 46 to the secondary pouch board 25 and thereby elevate the secondary pouch 4i and so lift the secondary valve 38 and close the air port 36 and open ports 32 and exhaust air from the pneumatic tube 43.

The adjustment of the primary valve 18 upon its valve stem 16 is permitted when the valve is in position after the mechanism has been assembled, and also at any time after the instrument has been put into use by turning the valve 18 relatively to the spindle 16. This permits a. perfect adjustment of said valve relatively to the pouch 23. Also the secondary valve 38 can be adjusted bv adjusting its spindle 4:1 in the head 42. These advantageous features of construction are described and claimed in another application of mine, Serial No. 353,995, filed- Jannary 25, 1907.

The tracker board tubes .48, 48 run up to ings 4t, 4-, are connected with pneumatics 53,,

53 which extend back and are provided with reciprocating rods 51, 54 which work up and down in a guide strip the latter being held in position by supports 56 secured to the top board or support 7. The rods 54 are provided at their upper ends with heads 53 which are arranged below and adapted to strike against the whippens 5!) of the piano action. Thus the collapse of the pneumatics 53 by the exhaustion of air from them, causes the elevation of thecorresponding rods 5i whose. heads 53 strike the whippens 59 and thereby actuate the piano action. The rods 54, 54, are made adjustable relatively to the pneumatics 53. 53, by adjusting nuts 60, ('30 (Fig. 3), so as to permit adjustment of the rods relatively to the piano action.

The motor (31 for driving the take-up roll and the music head 62 carr ing the roll 51 and spool 5'2, are all mounted upon the support 7 so that this support can be removed from the piano, and when so removed, will take with it the entire pneumatic action,-the music head, motor and driving apparatus, and thus permit free access to the piano mechanism in a very easy and convenient manner.

At the front of the piano. and below the keyboard thereof, are controllin, levers 63, (34-. (35, whereoiithe lever ()3 is for operating the loud pedal of the piano, the lever (it for controlling the motor tempo. and the lever (35 for controlling the rewind apparatus. Depressiblc levers (H3, (36 are also arranged at the front of the piano. and adapted to control different sections of the action, the latter being divided so that its treble and bass are supplied with wind independently, and these two sections controlled by the two levers (36. (36. For this purpose controllers (S7, 68 are provided. one for the bass and one for the treble, but as these controllers form no part of the invention claimed in this application, they will not he described herein.

The levers (33. (34-, (S5 and (36 are led to the front edge of the keybed TO and mounted upon a hinged support 7T (Figs. 1, 6 and T) which is arranged to fold up into position in front of said keybed, the levers being jointed at 72 to permit their forward ends to be swung up with. the shelf 71. Thus the operating levers can be concealed from view, or exposed for use, by simply raising and lowering the shelf 71'. This v horizontally construction is made the subject-matter of a separate application, Serial No. 353,996, filed January 25, 1907.

The bellows 73 is arranged in the lower part of the piano case, and operated by foot pedals 74. These latter are arranged so that .they can be lifted bodily and swung into the inside of the piano case without detaching them. To such end these pedals are pivotally connected with the front end of rods 75, 75 whose rear endsare pivoted at 76 to a base rail 78. Links 79 are pivotally connected with the upper ends of the pedals, and also connected to braces 77 on the bellows. In operating the pedals, the rods 79, 79 will expand and collapse the bellows, and when desired to place the pedals inside of the case, they are lifted up and swung back into the case as shown in Fig. 8.

It will be understood that changes and modification can be made without departing from the sp' "it of the invention.

lVhat I claim is 1. A pneumatic action comprising a flat disposed metallic tray serving as a wind trunk, mlve casings arranged upon the top of said wind trunk, and pouch supporting devices suspended from the bottom of the same, and a series of striking pneumatics extending from the edge of said tray in the direction of the width thereof.

2. The combination of a tray having holes in its bottom for pouches, pouches for said holes, pouch disks arranged below said holes,- pins secured to and extending down through from the bottom of the tray, a supporting member for each pouch disk supported by said pins and extending crossunder the control of said wise of the same and engaging said pouch disks and valve mechanisms controlled by said pouches.

3. A ingor tray forming a pneumatic passage or windway, said tray having an elevated projection 31 formed thereon, a cylindric caspneumatic action comprising .a casing 33 having a threaded connection with said projection 31, which latter is adapted to 'form a valve seat, a valve 38 confined u ithin said casing 33, and a cap 34 having a threaded connection with the casing 33 and carrying a guideway for said valve.

1. A pneumatic action comprising a casing or tray forming a pneumatic passage or windway, said tray having an elevated projection 31 formed thereon, a cylindric casing '33 having a threaded connection with said projection 31, which latter is adapted to form a valve seat, a valve 38 confined within said casing 33, and a cap 34 having a threaded connection with the case ing 33 and having a bridge 37 to form a guideway,' and saidvalve 38 having a valve stem 39 provided with an adjustable head 42 fitted in said bridge 37.

5. In a pneumatic action, a pouch-holding cup 25, a ring 27 engaging the outer edge of said cup, pins 28 with nuts 29 for holding said ring in place, and a valve mechanism pouch.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 15th day of December, A. ,.D.,

CHARLES L. DAVIS. Vitnesses A. MILLER BELFIELD, I. C. LEE. 

